Year in Review

Latin music CD sales slid south in 2007, with barely 21 discs topping the 100,000 mark. But it wasn't for a lack of superstar releases.

In fact, this year was almost heady with big-name studio albums. In pop and rock, we had fresh music from Juanes, RBD, Café Tacuba, Miguel Bosé, Chayanne, Gloria Trevi, Alejandro Fernández, Reik and Aleks Syntek, to name a few.

For the tropical music fans, there was new material from Gloria Estefan, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Juan Luis Guerra y 440, Wisin & Yandel, Ivy Queen, Marc Anthony and Daddy Yankee.

And finally, in the regional Mexican music world, we got current collections from Vicente Fernández, K-Paz de la Sierra, Grupo Montez de Durango, Los Temerarios, Jenni Rivera and Christian Castro.

The choices were plentiful and in many cases praiseworthy. But as in all other genres, Latin CD sales have suffered at the hands of digital downloading.

1 Miguel Bosé, Papito (Warner Latina) – The artistic surprise of the year. To celebrate three decades of musical creativity, the evocative Mr. Bosé revisited a slew of his career songs and did them as duets with contemporary Latin artists, from Shakira to Sasha Sokol. The results are hauntingly wonderful. His repertoire not only holds up well, it's beautifully refashioned.

2 Kany Garcia, Cualquier Dia (Sony BMG Norte) – The Latin music revelation of 2007. Puerto Rican singer-songwriter merges airy melodies with quirky lyrics, especially during the naughty "Amigo en el Baño" and the defiant "Mujer de Tacones." But perhaps she's most memorable when she gets serious, as she does on "Carla Se Fue."

3 Marc Anthony, El Cantante (Sony BMG Norte) – The movie was a commercial and critical bomb, but there's no denying that Mr. Anthony was born to sing the late Hector Lavoe's songs. He is the heir apparent. Those piercing pipes build to a fiery display of attitude and emotions.

4 Juanes, La Vida ... Es Un Ratico (Universal Music Latino) – Juanes ... a little more raw. On his fourth studio album, the lauded Colombian artist captured his live concert sound on record. It rocks, it's crisp and it's adventurous in spots, namely on the ranchera "Minas Piedras." Again, Juanes expertly combines art with commerce.

Café Tacuba's Sino

5 Jenni Rivera, Mi Vida Loca (Fonovisa) – The most unabashedly honest, autobiographical song cycle, perhaps in the history of Latin music. The banda star opens the door on her personal struggles, including failed, violent relationships, and the trials of being a female artist in a musical style fiercely dominated by men.

6 Chayanne, Mi Tiempo (Sony BMG Norte) – Popular Latin music should always be this much fun and tuneful. Puerto Rico's Elmer Figueroa Arce, better known as Chayanne, experiments with reggaeton, Brazilian beats and straight-ahead reggae on his 15th studio effort. At 38, he's in peak artistic form.

7 Juan Luis Guerra y 440, La Llave de Mi Corazón (EMI Televisa Music) – He is the Dominican Republic's chameleonic poet, a singer and songwriter comfortable traveling through salsa, bachata, merengue and R&B. The ridiculously catchy title track helped him win a slew of Latin Grammy Awards, but the entire album cooks on high heat.

8 Café Tacuba, Sino (Universal Music Latino) – Arguably the unpredictable Mexican band's most melodic CD since its self-titled 1992 debut. It's also the most linear Tacuba disc since then. This isn't a bad thing, not in the least. The group's mix of keyboards, percussion, bass and drums sure make a kaleidoscopic sound.

9 Gilberto Santa Rosa, Contraste (Sony BMG Norte) – Puerto Rico's old-school salsero delivered a two-CD set contrasting his salsa roots with his balladeer talents. And with not much repetition, either, meaning this isn't merely a set of salsa songs later redone as ballads. He's top-notch in both styles, buoyed by his muscular, melodic voice.

10 Gloria Trevi, Una Rosa Blu (Univision Records) – The eclectic, powder-keg singer-songwriter from Mexico may have confused some with 2004's obtuse Cómo Nace el Universo. So she's more streamlined here, but still as passionate as ever, particularly on the cool opener "Psicofonia" and the dance floor-ready "Lo Que Te Toca," a duet with Olga Tañón.

And the winner is ... Juan Luis Guerra.

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Juan Luis Guerra at the Latin Grammys in November

The respected Dominican Republic singer-songwriter dominated this year's Latin Grammy Awards. For his successful and praised CD La Llave de Mi Corazón, a crazy-good collection of rhythmic tunes, the bearded Mr. Guerra walked off with record, album, song, best merengue album and best tropical song gramophones.

Not only that, but the bachata music icon was named the Latin Recording Academy's person of the year for his artistic merits and his humanitarian efforts. His nonprofit Juan Luis Guerra Foundation, which was founded in 1991, has assisted in building hospitals, churches and recreation centers in the star's native country.

Mr. Guerra's all-encompassing success proves that the grassroots road can lead to deserved laurels. He slowly worked his way to international acclaim, all the while keeping the emphasis on expanding his musical breadth with songs from his pen. That mainstream Latin radio, the industry and the record-buying masses remain in his camp further validates his stature.

M.T.

"Those of us in the public eye ... they take pictures or videos of us. ... That is no problem. I am in the music business. But my family I do not want in the public eye. They didn't choose this. I don't want them to be interviewed. That comes from the love I have for them." Chayanne, on why he keeps his wife and children out of the limelight

"The things they have found out purposely or not purposely because of public records or whatever the case may be, they want to know. They want to know about me. It's part of the reason for the growth and the success. They realize she goes through what we go through. She's just like us. She's able to tell us her life story. If I don't tell them my life story, they will find out." Jenni Rivera, on why she chose to record the pointedly autobiographical Mi Vida Loca